MUMBAI: Ek Deewana Tha will hit the theatres with two endings. One would be the conventional massy boy-embraces-girl ending. The other one is being kept a secret. But we hear it is a far less viewer-friendly ‘mature’ finale where Prateik and the nubile newbie Amy Jackson do not end up as a couple.

Shakun Batra tried the same boy-does-not-get-girl ending recently in Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu , and he got away with it.

While directors in the industry are secrely smirking over the experiment with audiences’ perceptions, Menon says the alternative ending is the ‘director’s cut’ and it is only for selected audiences, though  how he zeroed in on the profile of that ‘selected’ audience is unclear.

An outspoken South Indian director wonders, "How can the audiences be given two endings? Then why not two beginnings and middles also? Directors’ Cuts are released in a different format from the theatrical release, primarily on the dvd format. If Ek Deewana Tha is being released with two endings and the alternative ending is the ‘director’s cut’ is Menon saying the other mass-oriented version is not cut by him?"

Explains Menon, "The mass release is not the director’s cut. We’ve two versions of the film with two different endings. The director’s cut is like a limited-edition on dvd.The director’s cut would be screened in  just a few theatres in every city. And it will clearly be publicized as the director’s cut wherever it is screened. It’s like picking the English version of Delhi Belly to watch."

Menon hopes the massy ending would click and prompt audiences to see the other ending. "If the film turns out to be a hit there might be repeat audience for the other version."

 

Decades ago Raj Kapoor had shot two different endings for his teen romance Bobby, one tragic and the other happy.He went with the happy ending after distributors saw and liked the non-tragic finale.

This is the first time in the history of Indian cinema that two different conclusions for the same film would be available to audiences simultaneously.

"The producers liked both the versions. The change is in only the last reel. My director’s cut is the ending that makes my film a coming-of-age love story. The ending for the mass release is a feel-good conventional ending," explains Menon.